Latest News

Honduras: Three Months after the Coup

De Facto Regime Continues Reign of Terror

Masked
police officers attempt to disperse a peaceful protest march
last week in the capital. ‘We no longer have a right to things like
Freedom of Assembly,’
said COFADEH Director Bertha Oliva.

City under Siege

Tegucigalpa, Honduras – The Brazilian Embassy here is a surprisingly small, low-slung, stucco building,
with sturdy, green-painted steel gates. The light-green and yellow Brazilian flag still flies above the electrified
defense wires. Since last Monday, Honduran soldiers and police guard both ends of the street. All the houses and
other buildings on the block have been commandeered – sometimes against their owners’ wishes – for
surveillance and ops positions against the Embassy.

Deposed President Mel Zelaya was able to sneak back into the country last week, crossing through the heavily-forested
border with Nicaragua, traveling overland by foot with a few companions. Since his arrival on Monday he’s
been trapped inside the Embassy under threat of arrest, along with about 80 political supporters, family members,
and journalists. Soldiers and police have kept up a steady state of harassment, including – according to
CNN, as well as live reports on the ground – the use of chemical weapons.

The situation in the rest of Tegucigalpa isn’t much better. The formerly bustling capital has taken on
the haggard aspect of a city under siege, including curfews and checkpoints. Hotels and restaurants are empty.
In the streets, almost every available flat surface is covered with political graffiti. In the evening, after
curfew, packs of dogs roam once-busy shopping centers and boulevards.

Since Zelaya’s return on Monday, the level of police repression against the civilian population has increased
dramatically. There have been arbitrary arrests and detentions, numbering about 350 persons. Dozens more have
been beaten, some while in custody. Police and soldiers have several times fired tear gas, rubber bullets and
live rounds into unarmed demonstrators. At least two people have died.

Attacks on the Embassy?

Perhaps most disconcerting of all are the reports of the government-sponsored chemical attack, said to have
occurred at the Brazilian Embassy last Friday.

“They launched the toxic chemical from a tanker truck,” said Father Andres Tomayo, Zelaya supporter
and Catholic priest, when I spoke to him in the Embassy via cell phone. I had been in there with him as late as
Monday night, when I left to file a story; since the encirclement by police the next morning, no journalists have
been let inside. But when I’d last seen Father Tomayo in person, a few days before, he’d been hopeful
and proud that Zelaya had risked so much to come back. Now, on the phone, the priest sounded exhausted, even slightly
dazed. Tomayo told me the gas or chemical attack came around six-thirty in the morning, just after the street
was suddenly cleared of soldiers. “They made all the journalists leave as well.” Tomayo said that
he and others in the compound suddenly began to experience, “headaches, cramps and vomiting, constriction
of the throat, lightheadedness and even blood in the urine and stool”.

Peaceful,
anti-coup demonstrators join in singing the Honduran
national anthem, moments before a police attack that included
tear gas, rubber bullets, and live rounds.

The lab results from the examinations done by doctors allowed into the embassy to treat the victims of the alleged
attack were not available at the time of this writing. But it has been widely confirmed that Zelaya’s peaceful
supporters were violently routed from in front of the Embassy early last Tuesday, and tear gas canisters were
reportedly fired into the Ambassador’s courtyard. Authorities engaged in random beatings of people throughout
the city that day – I personally witnessed several attacks – and a harsh crackdown followed.

“The de facto regime has no respect for personal liberties,” said Andres Pavon, President
of the Committee for Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), when I met him at the
scene of a warrantless police assault against a women’s shelter accused of “harboring dissidents.”

“With the recent violence they have committed,” said Pavon, “The authorities have made their
intentions very clear. We are expected to accept their control, or suffer the consequences.”

Who’s Who in Honduras?

The civilian supporters of military-backed strongman President Roberto Michiletti tend to be the upper classes,
and the far-right ideologues. Zelaya was a centrist, whose tepid economic and conservation initiatives made him
the victim of a military-back coup, almost exactly three months ago. His gravest sin: answering the popular call
to hold nonbinding poll about reforming the country’s outdated, Banana-Republic style Constitution. Various
elite segments of Honduran society are well-served by the present draconian charter – as are many transnational
corporations, especially mining, logging, and fast food outlets like Burger King and Wendy’s.

La Resistencia is a broad coalition of humanitarian organizations and interests, including human
and women’s rights groups, conservationists, worker’s unions, teachers, and many others – all
united in purpose to maintain a nonviolent state of civil disobedience, until democratic order is restored, and
the population at large is allowed a referendum concerning constitutional reform.

Police Raiding Human Rights Organizations

The downtown headquarters of the Committee for Detained and Disappeared Persons of Honduras (COFADEH)
was hit with tear gas on Tuesday, at the same time authorities were dispersing the crowd in front of the Embassy.
On Wednesday, the office of Refuge without Limits (ASL) was also forcibly shuttered, reportedly for aiding the
victims of police violence.

COFADEH Director Bertha Oliva was still red-faced and half-blind from tear gas when I arrived at the building,
a few minutes after the police drive-by. Oliva called the attacks “completely unprovoked.” They were
intended, she said, to send a message of who’s in charge. “Our door was open, and so they fired the
tear gas at us,” Oliva said. “But, so long as the country needs my help, I will never close those
doors.”

Anatomy of a Crackdown

The military and police intelligence, presumably at the instruction of the Micheletti government, have repeatedly
blocked cell phone calls and attempted to shut down independent media. They’ve also militarized the capital.
At the least sign of provocation, los federales will open fire with pepper gas, flash-bombs, rubber
bullets, and live rounds.

The general level of aggression by the authorities is highest, however, in the poor barrios on the outskirts
of the steeply-hilled city. At least two civilians have been confirmed killed at checkpoints since Zelaya’s
return
– apparently guilty of nothing worse than curfew violation. That brings the total number of confirmed deaths
since the coup to more than a dozen, with several other reported fatalities still under investigation.

The authorities, however, continue to deny there is a problem.

“This isn’t repression, what we’re doing,” laughed Inspector Molina, the official police
spokesman, during a press conference in front of the Embassy on Friday. “If you attack me,” Molina
said, menacingly, to the journalist who had asked the question, “I’m going to attack you back. . .

Police
officers attacking protestors near the Brazilian Embassy. Two
have been killed, and dozens injured, including at least one journalist.

“These people are nothing but vandals, that’s why we lock them up,” the Inspector went on,
still chortling heartily.
“They throw rocks and beg for money. They’re all telling lies. It’s a lie that we’re attacking
people in their houses in the barrios. There are no deaths, no women being raped.”

It was also a lie, dutifully explained Inspector Molina, that people in the Embassy were sick, or vomiting blood.
“We would never harm our fellow Hondurans,” he told reporters, smiling at us from under his reflective
sunglasses.

On those occasions when police are busy “not harming” other Hondurans, even international journalists
are given little quarter; more than once this reporter has had to dodge tear gas and live rounds, when the police
opened fire on the press along with everybody else.

At least one periodista has not been so lucky.

“I was ten meters in front of the police when they shot directly at me,” said independent Honduran
journalist Esteban Melendez, who was struck in the upper spine by a high-powered gas canister as the two of us
ran for cover.
“If it had hit me in the head, I’d be dead right now,” said Melendez, a wallet sized purple
welt already risen between his shoulder blades.

Human rights groups have documented numerous other incidence of police violence – including death threats
and systematic beatings of detained prisoners with nightsticks. “They’re not being tortured for information,” says
COFADEH case worker, Mery Agurcia, “It’s just pain for the sake of pain.”

“Mel, Amigo, el Pueblo es Contigo!”

Authorities have repeatedly detained peaceful marchers, preventing the anti-coup demonstrators from getting
within site of the Brazilian Embassy itself. Left to themselves, the marches are peaceful, even festive occasions,
alive with chanting and songs. But, occasionally, when pushed or threatened, the protestors have resisted dispersal,
always resulting in swift and brutal retaliation by police. During such emotionally charged moments, certain fringe
elements of the resistance movement – acting against the explicit instructions of the leadership – have
clumsily engaged with police. They’ve fought back against tear gas and pistols with stones and primitive,
hand-made bombs. These few running clashes have all been one-sided massacres by the well-armed authorities.

“When Zelaya came back, we saw the size of the resistance almost double overnight,” said Gilda Velasquez,
a teacher and activist based in the capital. We met in the only place open near the Embassy, a Burger King that
the police had shelled during the raid last Tuesday. Repair crews scurried around as we drank bad fast-food coffee.
(Burger King itself backs Micheletti, and workers are often ordered to attend pro-coup rallies.)

“It’s the new teens and young men who are really giving us a problem [in the resistance movement],” Velasquez
said. Scion of a wealthy but conformist Honduran family, she herself has chosen to live la vida de lucha among
the people. “A few of these young men are willing to risk violence – because they have no future,” Velasquez
told me. “They know that, and they’re frustrated. Zelaya is back in the country now, and they don’t
understand why he’s not in charge.”

The problem of rapidly swelling ranks is even more complicated because the movement’s leadership is in
short supply. Many of the rallying figures, like Padre Tomayo, are holed up in the Embassy with the president.
Others are casualties of previous police violence, like Independent Presidential Candidate Carlos Reyes, who was
badly beaten last month, and is still recuperating after several surgeries.

One of the few leading figures of the resistance still able to take an active role is Rafael Alegria, Director
of Via Campesina. “This began as a nonviolent movement,
and that’s how it will continue,” said Alegria, at the conclusion of a peaceful march late last week.
He acknowledged the lack of experienced leadership, but said the Resistance was working hard to avoid confrontation
with authorities. “If there is any aggression it will not come from us,” said Alegria.

Solutions: UN and US Reactions are Critical

After more than six weeks in the capital, it seems ever clearer to this reporter that the San Jose Accords will
not work. Even if the de facto government were to accept those terms, which itself seems unlikely,
many resistance leaders see the Arias plan as selling out, because it would virtually eliminate the opportunity
for the kind of widespread constitutional reforms they’re seeking.

Honduran
soldiers block the road leading to the Brazilian Embassy.
The police have promised to arrest Zelaya, ‘the minute he sets foot
outside the gate’.

Equally unwise, if Zelaya is not re-instated as President, would be to go ahead with the scheduled elections
in November. A huge swath of the population would be likely to boycott; and, so far, no international bodies will
even recognize such a vote.

If the violence continues, rapid US or UN intervention might be the only way to deter full scale civil war – it’s
been rumored that some sectors of the military are still loyal to President Zelaya. In the streets, many people
express their desire to see the UN’s “blue helmets” brought in. But, overwhelmingly, the one
name that surfaces again and again, ringing out with hopeful fervor during the call-and-response chanting of the
marchers, is that of President Obama.

“I don’t know what we’ll do if Senor Obama won’t help us,” said an
elderly woman who carried an umbrella against the sun, during a recent rally in front of the US Embassy. Then,
more puzzled than angry, she said, “Obama always talks about helping people. So how come he won’t
help us?”

With or without Senor Obama’s help, the country is need of great political reforms and reconciliations,
if peace is to be restored. The only solution would seem be allowing the people what they wanted in the first
place, what Zelaya had tried and failed to bring about – a vote for a popular referendum on constitutional
reforms.

“What Honduras needs is a more participatory form of government,” said COFADEH Director Bertha Oliva,
on the morning of the gas attack against her office. “A new constitution could transform my country,” she
said, and then paused to glance around at the room full of gassed and beaten people. “Unfortunately,” she
said, “the opportunity for that may have slipped away.”

Jeremy Kryt is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Journalism and the University of Iowa Writers’
Workshop. His journalism is forthcoming in publications like In These Times, and Narco News.

Comments

Enjoy THE Thought OF THE Covers! THANKS FOR ALWAYS Depending FOR Directions TO PLEASE US, ESPECIALLY WITH OLDER Reaches!
<a href=“http://easigo.co.uk/”>car insurance claim</a>

By Mark on Sat, April 24, 2010 at 10:31 am

Good vibes and good trip, that is all about, good companies and people are a hell of a memory gift, anyway Nice blog Ill keep track of this one.
<a href=“http://www.fastfoodcouponscode.com/”>Fast food coupons</a>

By Fast food coupons on Sat, November 07, 2009 at 12:15 pm

It is really a nice post, its always great reading such posts, this post is good in regards of both knowledge as well as information. Thanks for the post.
<a href=“http://www.youronlinetipsource.com/”>finance tips</a>

By finance tips on Sun, October 18, 2009 at 12:08 am

Dear Reader—Cesar Ham is mentioned in this poll as an independent candidate, although the indy front-runner is clearly Carlos Reyes, who is very popular with the resistance.
<a href=“http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3511/poll-wide-majority-hondurans-oppose-coup-d’etat-want-zelaya-back”>Check out this piece in Narco News</a> for more.

By Jeremy Kryt on Tue, October 13, 2009 at 11:30 am

I appreciate your gripping, current report on the crimes against law-abiding citizens and their rights. Would that more in the U.S. appreciate what has gone in to obtaining our civil liberties that we so easily take for granted, and find the heart to speak up for those exercising their basic human rights.

By Pamela J. McArthur on Wed, September 30, 2009 at 12:55 pm

Jeremy I appreciate your comprehensive, though not quite up-to-date report on the situation in Honduras. I wish there was a date on your report so the reader could identify where in the unfolding of this situation you are. You haven’t covered the 45 day removal of Constitutional Rights to assemble, Michelleti imposed on Monday, September 28th. Nor his threats to remove the Brazilian emblem and flag, turning the embassy into a civilian building (giving the army the right to do what they please.) And I could go on and on about the impunity of the de facto government.
But why, as he retracted all of this a day later; perhaps on the advice of one of the very expensive public relations firms that have been hired in Washington, D.C. to put a positive spin on the criminal acts of this defacto government. It’s reported one firm is getting a $390,000 fee. Not bad for supporting a junta!
Jeremy, I also have a question for you I have not been able to get a handle on. Sooner or later there will be an election in Honduras. Who will run? My friends in Central America have told me candidates were from Zelaya’s and Micheletti’s pary and conservative, and from the other major party which is even more conservation. You mention Carlos Reyes is a candidate from an independent party. I have also heard the name Cesar Ham, from an independent party, and that he is more “progressive”, representing the people of Honduras. I also have seen reports he was killed, he was not killed, he was imprisoned, he is under house arrest. Can you shed any light on who these potential candidates are, what they stand for, etc. It seems if and when there is a “fair” election in Honduras that the candidate who will support a constitution referendum, human rights and the civil liberties of the majority of the people may have a chance of winning. That is IF there are fair elections. I think it would be helpful for the international community to have this information now, as it would give up a glimpse of how this might end up if there is a peaceful resolution to this current deplorable condition. I thank you for taking the time to read this. Verona Fonte